On 8/15/18, 1:04 AM, "ietf on behalf of Carsten Bormann" <ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx on behalf of cabo@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>> The organization behind the IETF can very well collect information about the situation for, say, citizens of the 10 leading regions that will originate participants.
>> I would expect my meeting fee dollars to already have paid for that, because the venue selection committee must already have looked at that.
>> So why withhold that information?
>> Yes, it would need to be qualified as “not legal advice”, “subject to change”, “void where prohibited”, etc.
>> It would help if it contains pointers to authoritative information I can look up myself.
>> And, ultimately, it is my decision (or that of my organization) how to handle this information, but the IETF could do most of the
>> legwork here. Regularly, as a routine component of venue
>>selection and preparing for a meeting.
>> Grüße, Carsten
Hi Carsten,
As Chair of the IAOC let me say that no information is being withheld on Thailand visas. We are simply reminding everyone to do what you already do when visiting a new country - learn what the entry requirements for your personal situation are, such as reading on the web, asking your travel agent, or consulting a visa service.
When venues are selected there is a review of entry into the country to gauge the difficulty or ease that IETF attendees will incur. The assessment of Thailand is that it does meet the MTGVENUE requirement on border entry. (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-mtgvenue-iaoc-venue-selection-process).
The IETF is a community of distinct individuals from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds . The question of what do you need is very much on a personal situation basis and it isn't possible to advise on as everyone's situation is different depending on a great many factors such as what country issued your passport, what your birth country is, what other countries you have stamps in your passport from, even if you are employed currently, a consultant, or are unemployed. It can also depended on the interpretation of your situation by the individual inspector you speak with at the border. An IETF meeting has over a 1000 individuals, each with their own situation.
The IAOC is doing legwork to get the word out to say:
Thailand is a new IETF meeting country and every attendee should take the time to check what, if anything, knowing their own unique personal situation, they need to do to enter Thailand.
A lot of info is available on the web with a google search. John Levine's search turned up https://www.businesseventsthailand.com/plan-your-events/general-travel-information/visa-requirements/ which has info and which also links to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand website (http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908). A google search turns up a great many links to the question "Do I need a visa to travel to Thailand". In the end, the answer is every traveler is responsible to read the rules and apply them to the their personal situation.
I personally spent about 20 minutes with google search and some reading to understand how it applies to my own situation. One thing that caught my eye was in the Questions and Answers on Thai Visa section on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand website (http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15380-Questions-&-Answers-on-Thai-Visa.html), which stated a financial support requirement for tourists from the US and 41 other countries that don't require a visa for tourist travel up to 30 days, do need to have "adequate finances equivalent to at least 10,000 Baht per person or 20,000 Baht per family". 5,000 Bhat is as of today's exchange rate around $150 US. In other words - if I visit as a tourist, I need to have at least $150 US in my wallet when entering. That's a something I didn't know until I read about it.
This illustrates the point that the IAOC is trying to make. If you aren't familiar with Thailand's entry rules for your situation, you should take the time to read up on them as you may learn something that you didn't expect that may apply to your situation.
This is in no way special to Thailand and it's something every traveler should do when visiting a new country. The IAOC is raising awareness now so that everyone takes the time to educate themselves and has the time to do what they need to do.
Regards
Glenn Deen - IAOC Chair
